August 16, 2013 2:11 pm

Some good news on the injury front for the Seattle Seahawks after this afternoon’s walk-through practice – starting tight end Zach Miller has been taken off the physically unable to perform (PUP) list, and will begin practicing this week.

Miller has not practiced at all during training camp because of a foot issue, causing concern for Seattle’s depth at the position. Rookie Luke Willson will handle starting duties for a second straight game. Miller will not play against Denver on Saturday.

“Next week will be much more involved,” Carroll said about Miller. “Again, we’ll continue to be very measured at how we bring him back in. But it’s great to have him back. And he’s ready to go.”

On the Percy Harvin front, Carroll said it will take at least a month before the team can figure out a more defined timeline on when or if he returns to the field this season after recent hip surgery.

“We don’t know that yet,” Carroll said. “We just know that the surgeon that did the work, the specialist was thrilled with the way he came back the days after the surgery. And his ability to get range of motion and things were way ahead of schedule.

“So that’s a great sign, from what they told us. … It’s going to take a good month before you can begin to figure out if he’s even going to have a chance to come roaring back out of it. But it looks like all the signs are very good. So we’ll see what that means. We’re not putting any weeks on it. We don’t know.”

And defensive end Chris Clemons remains on the PUP list – for now.

“He’s still working hard,” Carroll said. “He’s doing good. He’s right in the middle of a rigorous rehab now. He’s on the field cutting and moving, and doing defensive line drills and all that kind of stuff. I don’t know what that means time-wise, but he’s doing well.

“And he’s managing his way through it. He’s not in any pain or discomfort. It’s just a matter of getting his confidence back, and getting him back to full speed before we take him back off the PUP and get him going.”

Running back Christine Michael (back spasms) and defensive tackle Tony McDaniel (groin) returned to practice today, but Carroll said he will not know until game time if either player will be available for Saturday’s game against Denver.

Carroll indicated how Michael reacts after today’s practice will help determine if he plays tomorrow.

Defensive end Cliff Avril (hamstring) also will be a game-time decision, according to Carroll.

Carroll talked in detail about moving Phil Bates from receiver to fullback. He said that the move was not a reflection on how Bates has performed at receiver, and that the move is considered a long-range project.

Carroll compared Bates to another former college receiver’s successful transition to fullback in the NFL, University of Washington product Marcel Reese.

Bates also was an option quarterback at Ohio University before moving to receiver his final season there.

“He’s a big kid,” Carroll said. “He was 233 pounds when we started this experiment moving him to fullback, and he’ll be 240 in another week. And he’s just a really good, all-around football player. We love that he’s really fast. And he’s a terrific catcher. So if it could work out, then we might be able to develop a player.”

Carroll said that rookie defensive tackle Jordan Hill will start at defensive tackle alongside Brandon Mebane, along with working as the nose guard with the third-down pass rush unit.

Carroll said that Hill had another good week of practice. Carroll said that defensive lineman Jaye Howard’s availability still is uncertain for Saturday.

Carroll said that Golden Tate will be first up at kick returns, and Jermaine Kearse will get the first opportunity as the team’s kick returner on Saturday.

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Gregg Bell joined The News Tribune in July 2014. Bell had been the director of writing for the University of Washington's athletic department for four years. He was the senior national sports writer in Seattle for The Associated Press from 2005-10, covering the Seahawks in their first Super Bowl season and beyond. He's also been The Sacramento Bee's beat writer on the Oakland Athletics and Raiders. The native of Steubenville, Ohio, is a 1993 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and a 2000 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.

May well be. I just saw a couple times when the play went away from him there appeared to be less effort to pursue. The reasons could be many and as I said, I may be hyper critical. He flashes though, no question about that.

For the past few years, I’ve held to the theory that Carson Palmer was the ultimate fantasy garbage man. Turns out, I was absolutely right. Over the past three years, no one has thrown for more yards once the game gets out of hand — and it hasn’t really been close. Late in one-sided affairs, Palmer’s tossed for 1,588 yards. Second is Josh Freeman … with 1,175 yards. Palmer also leads teh way with 14 TD passes — one better than Ryan Fitzpatrick.

Why is Denver practicing for Seattle crowd noise? It’s preseason and the 12th man is holding back in case of injury like every other team. Home opener is in 5 weeks. No need to tear any vocal chords in preseason.

Don’t worry about Palmer, worry for him. Levi is back to protect his blindside this year. Yes, the 2 time champ of sacks allowed is back from injury to lead the way once again.

Just watched some of the Saints preseason game and Seneca Wallace is in competition to be Drew’s backup. He looked awful on the series I watched. Sacked on 1st drop as his primary receiver covered, tried to scramble to his right and was caught by a D Lineman. Hand off, then pressure and he missed the throw by a lot. Dude looks waaay done. Glad our backup QB situation is improving. Saints in trouble as are most team that lose starter QB. We seem to have a better backup plan as of now.

Damn, just got back from a weeks vacation, and even though I DVR’d the Chargers game, I just played it back and it was either ‘technical difficultied’ or else they were showing the Broncos and Niners. Lucky the game is up on Kickasstorrents for download. Looking forward to watching the Bronco game tomorrow. Hopefully they will show the whole thing and not do the skiparroo again.

I think the guys getting moved to FB on the Seahawks are simply heading to get cut. Its a bad sign. Not only is FB is a hard position to learn, but no one is taking MikeRob’s job. His synch with the O line and Lynch is perfection. Bates is screwed.

I wouldn’t say that Palmer is necessarily a good QB anymore, but I think he’s still above average. He’s certainly better than the crap on a stick that Arizona has had since Warner retired. And he has a lot more talent to throw to in Ari than he did with the Raiders.

The move of Bates to FB is very intriguing. He has a good skill set if he can learn to block from the FB position. Hopefully they can stash him on the PS for another year to develop.

Here’s Jon Bostic knocking the spit out of someone against the Chargers if anyone missed it.

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